Bay County voters likely will decide in November whether to fund the Bay Health Plan, which advocates say would provide much-needed health care services to "uninsured and underinsured" residents of Bay County.

Supporters turned in petitions with 4,541 signatures calling for placing the initiative on the Nov. 4 ballot.

County officials have said that more than 3,200 signatures would have to be collected by Aug. 12, including 4 percent of registered voters in every city and township in Bay County.

Bay County Clerk Cynthia A. Luczak has until Aug. 26 to review and certify the signatures.

"This is an important milestone for working families in Bay County who are struggling to get access to quality, affordable health care," said Linda Hamacher, executive directors of the plan, in a press release.

If approved, the plan would levy 0.67 mills for eight years on Bay County homeowners to fund a "basic health service delivery system for the prevention and treatment of health problems of uninsured and underinsured residents of the county."

The plan would raise $2 million the first year and would continue until 2015. The Bay County Commission voted 6-3 against putting the issue on the ballot, with some commissioners saying they preferred the issue come to the public via referendum.

Although proponents have called it a plan for working families, nothing in the language of the proposal requires recipients to have jobs or families, but they must be residents of the county.

"Most of the recipients would be working families," Hamacher said on Friday. "Some people think if you need health care you're not working, and that's not true." She noted that state plans already cover very low-income residents who earn less than $400 a month.

Hamacher said that individuals with up to $20,800 in annual income would qualify for the health plan, with higher income ceilings for multi-person households.

State and federal programs already provide health care for Michigan children, and they would not be covered by the plan.

A similar initiative was approved by voters in Genesee County in 2006.

"In just a few short years, Genesee County went from covering less than 3 percent of the uninsured to more than 67 percent," Hamacher said. "Emergency room visits to local hospitals dropped 38 percent and patients reported fewer health problems and a significant reduction in prescription drug costs. The success of the Genesee plan can happen right here in Bay County, once voters approve the initiative on Nov. 4."